Rowan Co. NC & Tyler Co. TX - James Barclay, son of Walter Barkley of Rowan
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Not sure if I have already sent this or not. Walter Barkley b. 1774 Old
Rowan Co's son James Barclay
the James Barclay Story
Compiled by Teddy Barclay Pope, Ed. D.
October 1, 1999
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to compile information about James Barclay
as a Tribute to him, using the various sources available. The contents of
these sources, and some of the other papers by other writers, has been
made into a composite paper that may provide a historical item of
interest to students of the history of Tyler County and Texas, and a
research aid to researchers of the Barclays and other related families.
An effort has been made to include the names of many settler citizens and
clues for research for writers who may follow. Some less pertinent
details have been included as an effort to preserve them. It is the hope
of this writer that someone might some day write a historical novel about
this Barclay family. A picture of James Barclay may be seen in the court
room of the Tyler County Court House.
Disclaimer: The effort of a reasonably prudent researcher has been made
to authenticate the content of this paper. In some cases it has been
necessary to reach consensus and compromise about what took place.
Examples of such compromise have to do with items about the villages of
the Alabama Indians, since it is not within the memory of the current
generation and they no longer speak the earlier language. Since they were
not literate in English at the time of their life in east Texas nearly
two hundred years ago, and their dealings with James Barclay, they do not
have records. The content of this paper is not guaranteed in any way
Other examples have to do with different boundaries of counties. at the
time of the arrival of the Barclays, and others, to what became Texas. At
the time, it was still part of Mexico and the Atoscosita area. Later, it
was named the Menard district. Still later, when Texas joined the United
States, it was divided into counties. The records used in these cases
were the writings of other earlier researchers, and those secured from
the Sam Houston Texas Archives at Liberty, Texas and the Tyler County
records. Records about the Barclay family members exist in the county
records of Tyler County. An example of a pertinent record is the summons
to court regarding William Barclay, who died around 1847. This summons
included the names of all of the living sisters and brothers, or their
immediate descendants. No mention was made in that summons of sister
Louisa Barclay Jennings, who may have died without children.
The last section of this paper deals with some of the other kin and
friends of James Barclay who were mentioned in the paper. These include;
William Anderson Barclay, Sam Houston, Harmon Frazier, and Charles
Bullock.
Persons doing family research may feel reasonably comfortable in using
this paper as a reference. It they are in disagreement with parts of it,
they should leave that part out of their research. If they have addition
information that would be appropriate to add in a later revision, please
contact the writer by email or in another way. This writer took on the
self assigned paper as a project, because no one more qualified or
closely related was able to do so at this time. The last duplicated and
distributed materials about this family were more than forty years old,
so it seemed time to update and compile the James Barclay materials.
James Barclay
James Barclay was born in 1816 in TN and died in 1871 in Woodville,
Texas, in Tyler County. He is buried at Hart Mill Cemetery. He came with
his family as a young man to East Texas. The family included eight
brothers and three sisters that ranged in age from around 30 years of age
when they settled in East Texas, to the youngest, would was a small
children under five years of age. The family also included the wives and
children of the older sons, Robert and Anderson. Most of them lived first
at Wolf Creek in the Town Bluff area. Later they spread out in Tyler
County, and an adult James lived in what became the Woodville area. His
farm was in the Harmony settlement and there he and his wife raised their
family. He was a major contributor to public service and the development
of Tyler County.
James Barclay's father was Walter Barclay, who was born in 1774 in Rowan
County, North Carolina and died in 1858 in Tyler County, Texas. Walter
Barclay was buried in Hart Mill Cemetery. He was the grandson of Robert
Barkley born in 1716est. and Leah Madison Barkley of Rowan County, NC.
This family was written up extensively in other papers by this writer
online and off, and available through the Sam Houston Archives at
Liberty, Texas, and the library of the University of Texas as well as 15
other libraries on floppy disc and various software.
Barclay's mother was Elizabeth McQueen Barclay who was born Feb 11, 1790,
in Madison County, Kentucky, and died 1863 in Woodville, Texas, Tyler
County. She was buried at Hart Mill Cemetery. Elizabeth McQueen was the
daughter of John McQueen and Nancy Crews, and the great granddaughter of
Dugal McQueen who came to America in 1716 as a prisoner of war. Dugal
McQueen was a Jacobite warrior on the Island of Sky which is off the
mainland of Scotland. He was in a battle with the English in an attempt
to unseat one king and put another on the throne. Elizabeth was the
sister of Milton McQueen who was married to Susan Simmons. She was the
sister of Jane McQueen Bean, who also came to east Texas. She was a
cousin to the Squire Cruse family. Three books have been written about
the McQueen and Cruse families by Dona Hechler Porter.
James Barclay's brothers their spouses were; Robert b. 1805 d. est 1845
who married Sarah McKinsey, Anderson b. est 1806 who married Sarah
Prather, John b. 1814 TN who married Louisa Jane Priutt b. 1829 TN d.
1881, David b. 1820 who married Jane Enloe, William d. 1847 who was
unmarried at the time of his death which was during the US War with
Mexico, Jeremiah -Todd b. 1825 d.1850, who married Elizabeth Rigsby,
Milton b. est 1830, who was unmarried at the time of his death. James'
sisters and their spouses were: Mary b.1818 ALA who married James Beven
b.1816 KY, Louisa J. b.1828 ALA who married Humley Jennings b. 1828 MD,
and Nancy Barclay b. Ala. who married John Deason.
Within a few months of moving to Texas, in July of 1836, James Barclay
enlisted in the independence cause of Texas. This was evidenced by his
record of military service in the AOR (Army of the Republic) service, for
which his heirs received a pension.
James Barclay married his wife, Virginia Ann America Foster, around 1840.
She was born. 2/1/1827 and died in 1867 in Tyler County, Texas. She was
buried at Hart Mill Cemetery. His wife's parents were Jane Lawson Foster,
born 1790 in Georgia and William Lewis Foster of Georgia. These Fosters
were distantly related to the Foster family of Virginia, Virginia
Foster's younger sister by seven years, Martha Jane Foster, married
Walter Barclay b. 1831, son of Robert Barclay, (after Martha Jane's
death, Walter married Mary J Mahaffey). James Barclay's eldest brother.
Mary Foster Rigsby, known as Aunt Polly, b. 1816 in Georgia, was the
mother of Elizabeth Rigsby, the wife of James Barclay's younger brother
Jeremiah Todd Barclay. There is a web paper online about the Lawson,
Foster, and Rigsby families by Margaret Barclay of Waco.
Barclay and his wife, Virginia Ann America Foster, made their home in the
Harmony area of Tyler County, near Woodville, Texas. Their home stands
today, having had continuous occupancy by descendants. During their
marriage, James was sometimes away from home for long periods of time.
His wife and family were assisted by the Negro employees and the friendly
Alabama Indians who help protect them from the elements, wild animals and
the less friendly Cherokee and other Indians in the area. More than once,
the employees and Indians carried them across the river and hid them in a
dugout that had been prepared for that purpose, should the need arise.
There was a room in the Barclay house especially for the Indians that was
unfurnished for family use. This was used as an office for James in his
dealings with the Indians who came to see him. They camped under the big
tree on the hill behind the house when they came there to visit and hunt.
The children and their spouses of James Barclay and Virginia Ann Foster
were; Jane Elizabeth b. 1841 who married Charles Washington Bullock,
(whose first wife was Isabella Scott Bullock, mother of several Bullock
children, including; Emily Bullock, Winfield Scott Bullock) Arvarilla b.
1893 d. 1932 married Landon Risinger (casualty of the Civil War), and
James Hodge, Mary Lewis b. 1845 d. 1933 married Thomas Boston Beaty, Sara
Anderson b. 1847 d.1936 married James Lindsay, James Walter Jr. b. 1850
d.1907 married Katherine Kincaid, Tennessee Ann b. 1851 d 1935 married
William Allison, John M. b. 1851 d. 1905, Napoleon Bonapart b. 1856 d.
1936 married Marta Estell, Eliza America "Annet" b 1857 d. 1888 married
James Leroy Anderson Sr , Arizona Phoebe 1859 d. 194 ? married Thomas
Beaty Bevel, William F b. 1861 d. 1904 married Ida Phillips and Charles
Bullock Barclay b. 1866 married Dona Durham.
Attention is drawn to the need for research on the descendants of each of
the children of James Barclay and Elizabeth McQueen Barclay.
Encouragement is given to family researchers to summarize their findings
into web pages for online enjoyment and historical interest of others
with Tyler County roots, as well as placement of paper copies in the
appropriate libraries and archives.
Others who lived on the James Barclay Place at Harmony settlement during
his lifetime were; James Barclay's parents, Walter Barclay and Elizabeth
McQueen Barclay and their youngest son, in a separate house. The son of
James Barclay's brother Jeremiah Todd Barclay and Elizabeth Rigsby, whose
father was killed when he was an infant, lived on James' farm from the
time he was about ten years old until he was old enough to leave home at
around sixteen years of age. His story is told below as 1) in the section
of this paper called other kin and friends of James Barclay.
In 1930, there were an estimated 800 descendants of the Barclay family in
East Texas.
James Barclay is conceded to be one of the first white men to step foot
in the part of the Menard district that was later to become Tyler County.
He was the agent to the Alabama, Coushatta, and Muskagee Indians, and
considered by the Alabamas to be their white father. He supported himself
and his family with the earnings from his farm, game, and the occasional
capture of wild mustang. He was a pioneer settler in Tyler County and a
founding father. His contribution to public service to Tyler County
included; tax assessor and collector, sheriff, county judge and
congressman. His contribution to the Republic of Texas was as a soldier
in the Army of the Republic (AOR) and the informal agent of the Alabama
at the request of Sam Houston. His service to the State of Texas included
being a member of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas
appointed agent to the Indians of Polk and Tyler County. (Appointed by
Governor Reynolds).
Barclay introduced the legislation in congress that established the
reservation for the Alabama Indians on the property called the Jim
Barclay Village in Polk County. It is near Wood Creek and Bear Creek,
half way between the east Texas cities of Woodville in Tyler County, and
Livingston in Polk County. It is near the later Big Sandy school district
and Mid Way area..
Barclay served in congress during the session when the vote came for
secession. Texas secession , and joining the of the Confederacy, led to
Texas being at war with the United States in the war between the states,
called the Civil War. Barclay stood against secession with Governor Sam
Houston, the former US Senator and former President of the Republic of
Texas. James Barclay and only a handful of others voted against
secession. Barclay's vote against secession was not over the issue of
slavery. It was because it would mean that Texas would be at war with the
United States of America. Texas could not possibly win such a war, and it
would cost Texan lives. Since James Barclay would not sign the oath to
the Confederacy, he, and the handful of others who voted against
cessession, resigned their offices. That day, James Barclay left Austin
headed for home and Tyler County. James Barclay did not lose the goodwill
of his friends and neighbors over the issue of secession and his
resignation from the office of congressman, although Tyler County was
ninty-nine percent for secession.
Two of James Barclay's sons-in-laws served in the Civil War. Capt.
Charles Bullock, who married Elizabeth Jane Barclay after the death of
his first wife, and daughter Arvilla's husband, Landon Risinger, who lost
his life in that war. Many of James Barclay's nephews served in the war
between the states and are listed online on the records of the Texas
Archives and easily identifiable under the name of Barclay. There were
other nephews who had Barclay mother who served in the Civil War. These
included the three sons of his sister, Nancy Barclay Deason, who had
died. The Deason-Barclay sons who were killed were John Jr., Walter and
Robert Deason .
James Barclay was re-elected by his constituency to another term later in
the Texas Congress He served as agent to the Alabama and other Indians
and farmed his homeplace until shortly before his death in 1871. He is
buried in Tyler County, Texas, at Hart Mill Cemetery. He was preceded in
death by his wife Virginia Ann America Foster Barclay and his father and
mother, Walter Barclay and Elizabeth McQueen Barclay, who are also buried
at Hart Mill Cemetery.
James Barclay and the Alabama Indians
from The Sunday Enterprise, Beaumont
December 15, 1935 ( edited by TLBPope 1/1/1999)
Dr. W.W. Anderson of Kountze told the story of the Alabama Indians as
his grandfather James Barclay had told. James Barclay, who was among the
first few white men in what is now Tyler County. James Barclay, veteran
of the Texas War for Independence and Indian agent for the Alabamas
appointed by the Republic and Texas gave details to J.R. Bevil of Kountze
before his death in the seventies.
It sheds light on the Alabamas when they were seeking a permanent home.
They settled in Polk County and were granted ownership by Texas. Today
they number about 250.
One of the first white men to see the Alabamas in Texas was James
Barclay. A young man, he came from Hoover^“s Gap, Tennessee to seek a new
home and got in the scrap with Mexico. He and his father were warm
friends and distant kin of Sam Houston in Tennessee. Barclay first found
the Indians at Peach Tree Village. They became friends. Barclay followed
the cause of the Texas Republic in 1836.
Fascinating is the picture of James Barclay stumbling across the
Alabamas at Peach Tree village in the early days of 1836. Few white men
had penetrated east Texas. He was accompanied on this lonesome westward
trek by Josiah and John Wheat, prominent figures in pioneer Tyler county.
At Peach tree village the trio met a Mr. Hanks, who settled near Emilee
on the Neches below Rockland.
By 1837, the floodgates of immigration opened from the United States,
and covered wagons poured in from Louisiana, for every part of Texas, but
mostly along the Sabine, Neches, the Angelina and the Trinity. In 1837
the Alabamas moved from Peach Tree village. White men made it
uncomfortable for them and they moved south and east to the forks of Big
and Little Cypress Creeks in what became Tyler County. That location was
home of the earliest Texas Indians on record, and camping place of the
Cherokees.
Barclay himself had to do with the selection of the camp site, because
the government of Texas appointed him Indian agent to the Alabamas.
Barclay, who returned to Tennessee for his family, moved to the Cypress
Creek forks with the Indians. He was regarded by the red men as their
foremost white friend. While building his log cabin on the creek bank he
lived with them.
Dr. Anderson did not know his famous grandfather. Since he was friends
with so many men who knew him well, it seems as if he got the story from
Barclay. The Kountze physician lived for a time in the log house which
James Barclay built in 1847 above the Cypress forks. The house remains
today in one of the most beautiful natural settings in all of east
Texas..... the sturdy dwelling, one of the finest remaining relics, in
the east Texas pines, is where some of Texas^“ most famous figures
visited.
One day while working at his farm, several braves approached Barclay.
They were running, and excited. He picked up his rifle and followed while
they told their story. A severe fever beset the tribe. Dr. Anderson
believes it was malaria, which attacked the white man and Indian alike in
the history of east Texas. Indians were dying. Malaria alone did not kill
them as fast as their own methods of cures, however.
"Often", my grandfather told it, said Dr. Anderson, "the Alabamas, hot
with fever, would submerge their entire bodies in the nearest stream,
leaving only their noses out of water. They would leave the stream, and
chill. Often pneumonia would follow".
Charley Thompson, the chief who died in the tribal village on ^—Bear
Creek" was probably the last man who could have given some of the
original Alabama words.
The Indians were highly excited, " he said. " In those days they wore
feathers and put war paint on their faces." They were in full war regalia
that day the group of bucks visited my grandfather. There was almost a
state of civil war at the Indian village
The divisions became hostile with each other. They went for Barclay. The
Indians had not lived in teepees for years but in wooden huts.
Superstition cost human life.
The Alabamas did not occupy the Cypress Creek land more than five or six
years. In 1852, they moved. Barclay had much to do with this. They
marched into one of the densest parts of the piney woods, on the edge of
the Big thicket. They became peaceful, and were not heard from again for
five years.
In 1859, when Texas had been a state about 14 years, the American
government began its greatest push to remove Indians to the Indian
territory. The tale is well known. They were promised the state to become
Oklahoma. The Alabamas^“ chief was Antone - one of the most stalwart
figures in the Alabama story. Antone was against immigrating. Texas
ordered Barclay to take representative members of the tribe to the
territory to select a new home.
In an overland march, James Barclay and Charles Bullock, later
distinguished in the war between the states, *Dave Lindsey, Tyler
county^“s first school teacher, Ben Ross and others went with Chief
Antone and one or two men from each of the principal Alabama families.
They set out horseback and were gone several weeks. The party returned.
For sure the Alabamas would not go to Indian territory of their own
volition. Dr. Anderson thinks the peaceful Alabamas were frightened of
the Apaches, Comanches, Sioux and other warlike tribes there.
They told Barclay and his friends, "No want to live here". Back they
came.
Dr. Anderson gave account of how the Alabamas come into legal possession
of their tribal lands. Houston had long been the Barclays friend from
Tennessee, before Houston was governor there. After his arrival in Texas,
Houston visited Barclay. Through visits which followed, Houston, always a
friend of the Indian, came to know the Alabamas. Through Houston^“s
influence, the state gave the Indians their land.
The bill was introduced in the Texas legislature, in either 1858 or
1859 by James Barclay. He had been elected to the legislature, but
retained his Indian agency--as the white father of the Alabamas. "It was
passed by a substantial majority" and the Alabamas remained in east
Texas. Their name means "^—Here We Rest."
A startling statement of Dr. Anderson's was the Alabamas may have been
among the Indians first seen by Christopher Columbus in the West Indies
in 1492. James Barclay, as he told and retold it, said Chief Antone told
him how the Indians came to the United State from "Somewhere in the West
Indies". It is a version of their migration probably not before brought
to light, but Barclay believed it, and accepted it as fact. They fought
with Jackson, Chief Antone said, in the Seminole wars.
The tribe was split in half near New Orleans. Its wanderings are left to
meager notes, and the story as told. It is certain they lived in Alabama.
Some of them from Mississippi, driven westward, settled in Louisiana,
known as the Coushattas--a remnant which has not retained its Indian
bloodlines. The Alabamas are virtually pure.
Chief Antone died in Texas followed by Chief John Scott, whose grave is
in the cemetery of the Alabamas on Bear creek. Chief Antone lived to be
108, and John Scott was 104 when he died. Two Indians ruled the Alabamas
for almost two centuries.
The story of James Barclay grows in the folklore tale of east Texas. He
fathered the Alabamas, and it is difficult to imagine what they would
have done without his generous and friendly aid. Barclay was laid to rest
in 1873 and. Enoch Rowe was appointed the Alabama agent, and then James
Dendy, serving until the eighties.
After that, no one in particular watched over the Alabamas. They became
servants of the settler, were mistreated and their livestock stolen. When
the Rev and Mr. C. W. Chambers/ Charmers, Presbyterian missionaries, came
in 1900, these practices ceased.
As a boy, Dr. Anderson recalls them well. The old Alabama story is a
mystery. Even the names and how they got them-McConnico, Battise,
Thompson, Pancho, Scott.
East Texas should give thanks that the Alabamas are part of its story -
they fit into many chapters of the rich east Texas lore. They fought
under Captain Bullock of "Band Luck Creek^“ fame, in the War Between the
States. They were half wild, however, and General Churchill sent them
home from Arkansas Post on the Arkansas river.
Numerous men and women still living saw the Alabamas in Woodville
trading. They camped at Village Mills at Holland after Barclay^“s death.
They were first to discover petroleum at Saratoga. Fletcher Cotton, who
said the Alabamas brought tar to the Holland camp, back tracked them one
day and found where they got it. The Saratoga Oil field was not developed
for sixty more years, nor was the Spindletop Oil field in Beaumont.
Note by TLBP 7/20/1999
.When the pioneers first came to the Menard district, the Alabama Indians
had at least four more villages in addition to the area that eventually
became their reservation. There is extensive information about these
villages and the trace and trail used between them and on to the Spanish
Trail. The Indian villages included; the Peach Tree village in the
Chester area, which was the largest, another south of Chester called the
Cain Village, one south of Woodville on the Wheat survey near Little and
Big Cypress Creeks, another village that was called the Rock Villiage,
and the Jim Barclay village.
The Indian Villages had huts for homes and were clustered by family
groups. Family groups would share a large garden. They had livestock that
was fenced in to protect it from their white neighbors. The larger
villages covered several miles. Besides their villages, small groups of
men would go on hunting trips for several days many miles from their
villages. One village had a horse racing track. Another had a dance hall.
Another had a ball park.
These areas were used by the Alabamas for their villages as early as
1807. Some were also used by the Cherokee Indians. The Indians were
nomads. They moved around because of the seasons, weather, available game
and their association with the other half of their tribe, the Coushattas
of Lousiana. They moved back and forth between east Texas and Louisana,
specifically, the area north of New Orleans.
Taken from the Texas History Online Project, a joint endeavor by the
University of Texas Library and the Texas Historical Association
Taken from the writings of Howard N. Martin, Judge Josiah Wheat and
others
BARCLAY, JAMES (1816-1871). James Barclay, legislator, county official,
and Indian agent, was born in Tennessee on February 11, 1816, the son of
Walter and Elizabeth (McQueen) Barclay. In 1826 he came to Texas with his
father and brother, but they all returned to Tennessee the same year. In
February 1836 the family settled permanently in Texas. On April 16, 1841,
Barclay married Virginia Ann Foster; they eventually had twelve children.
Barclay was one of the earliest settlers in what is now Tyler County. In
1852 he bought land in the John Wheat survey that included a village of
the Alabama Indians. These Indians had begun moving southward about 1840
from their Fenced-In Villageqv in northwestern Tyler County to a location
on Cypress Creek. The Alabamas referred to this village as Jim Barclay
Villageqv and continued to live there after 1852 with Barclay's
permission.
After the organization of Tyler County in 1846, Barclay served in many of
the county's elective positions. He was elected the first tax
assessor-collector; in 1850 he was elected sheriff; and he was the
county's chief justice during terms that began in 1856 and 1858. On
February 3, 1854, Barclay and Samuel Rowe were appointed commissioners to
purchase a tract of land for an Alabama Indian reservation in Polk
County. This land is now a part of the Alabama-Coushatta Indian
Reservation. On May 12, 1858, Governor H. R. Runnelsqv officially
appointed Barclay agent for the Alabama, Coushatta, and Pakana Muskogee
Indians. From November 7, 1859, to February 13, 1860, he served as the
Tyler County representative in the Texas legislature. He returned to the
legislature in December 1863 to represent Tyler and Hardin counties and
served on several legislative committees, including Indian Affairs.
During the administration of Governor Pendleton Murrah,qv Barclay served
a second term as agent for the Polk County Indians, from November 9,
1864, until he was replaced on August 29, 1865, by A. J. Harrison, an
appointee of provisional governor A. J. Hamilton.qv
Barclay continued to operate his large plantation and to participate in
civic affairs until his death at his Tyler County home on November 14,
1871. He was buried in the Hart Cemetery, three miles south of Woodville.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Members of the Legislature of the State of Texas from 1846
to 1939 (Austin: Texas Legislature, 1939). J. E. and Josiah Wheat, "The
Early Days of Tyler County," Tyler County Dogwood Festival Program, 1963.
James E. and Josiah Wheat, "Tyler County and the Texas Republic," Tyler
County Dogwood Festival Program, 1967. Dorman H. Winfrey and James M.
Day, eds., Texas Indian Papers (4 vols., Austin: Texas State Library,
1959-61; rpt., 5 vols., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1966).
Howard N. Martin
Seven Generations Have Resided in 'Old Home Place'
Tyler County Lifestyle,
January, 1999 p. 13
By Deanna Tubb
In 1842, Tyler County was a much different place than it is now. For one
thing it was called Menard District and was a part of the Republic of
Texas. Town Bluff was really the only town nearby.
The Alabama-Coushatta Indians split their time between Peach Tree Village
in Chester and a place they called Fenced In Village on Big Cypress
Creek. The winters were spent camping in Peach Tree Village, while Fenced
in Village was the summer camp. It was on the spot that overlooks Fenced
In Village that Indian agent James Barclay built his home. This site has
one of the most picturesque views in all of Tyler County.
Barclay had come to Texas from Tennessee in a covered wagon with the rest
of his family. He arrived in Woodville in 1836 with his parents and
settled first at Wolf Creek. Before being appointed Indian agent by Sam
Houston, Barclay served as the sheriff of Menard District. Later in his
life he held the offices of tax assessor, tax collector, county judge,
state representative, and commissioner. To say he was a leader in Tyler
County would be an understatement.
When Barclay had picked the spot for his home place, he hired Isaac Gant
from the nearby Gant Community to build it. Gant, along with a crew of
Indians, harvested many large yellow pine trees with which to build the
house. The logs were then hand hewn to 18 inches and split, then
dovetailed, so that they would fit together perfectly.
Gant must have been an excellent craftsman, because the Barclay home is
still standing. It is the oldest house in Tyler County that has been
continually occupied by the same family. The present resident, Mrs.
Herman Risinger, Sr., is the widow of James Barclay's great grandson.
Other Barclay descendants, beginning with James' daughter Averilla, have
occupied the home for seven generations.
The house is a masterpiece of primitive architecture. The original
structure consisted of four rooms with a dog trot hall. Additions have
been made, but all have been done without disrupting the look or the
spirit of the home. It was perched upon the hill at just the right angle
to catch Eastern breezes. One side of the dog trot hall served as living
quarters for Barclay and his wife Virginia Foster Barclay. The other side
housed Barclay's office.
As an Indian agent, Barclay had many responsibilities. Indian agents were
civil officers who were responsible for executing Indian laws and
treaties as well as keeping the peace between the Indians and their white
neighbors. These agents served as a sort of liaison between the
government and the Indians. Indian agents had to be somewhat special.
Since their control over the Indians was theoretical as best, they relied
on their personalities and powers of persuasion to do their jobs. Most
good Indian agents were loved and respected by the Indians, and Barclay
was no exception.
During the life of James Barclay, Sam Houston and other statesmen were
guests at the dog trot house. Many Indian children played on the porch,
probably with the Barclay children. A wooden bench still on the porch
today is carved with a game board. The children would play a game called
fox and geese with kernels of corn and the design carved into the bench,
while their parents talked business with Barclay.
The porch itself is somewhat of a marvel. It too, is made entirely of
hand hewn logs. One log stretches the entire length the 30 foot porch,
serving as a cross beam for the top of the porch.
The house is located on what used to be called the Alabama-Coushatta
Trail or the Spanish Trail. This was a very important thoroughfare for
those traveling to Hardin County. Not too far from the Barclay home lies
the site of the Indian ball park.
The Indian ballpark was a large clearing where the tribe would gather and
play a game involving a long stick and a ball made of leather or other
skins, similar to lacrosse. Sadly, vandals have wrecked the ball park in
recent years.
After Barclay's death, his daughter Averilla, Mrs. Landon Risinger,
occupied the house. Barclay is buried in Tyler County in the Hart Mill
Cemetery, off First Tower road. The house has come to be known as the
Barclay-Risinger home.
When Mrs. Herman Risinger, Sr. moved into the old home place, she had big
ideas. The new bride was a city girl, but quickly became accustomed to
the realities of country living. For eight years, the couple lived in the
house with no electricity, drawing water from the well. They were
instrumental in bringing electric power to the outlying areas of Tyler
County.
Over the years the home has been featured in many newspaper and magazine
articles, and television news specials. There are two plaques affixed to
the front of the home. The first is from the Texas Historical Commission,
designating the house as an historical landmark. The second was placed by
the John champion Chapter of the National Society of Colonial Dames, 17th
Century of Bellaire, Texas. One of James Barclay's great-great
granddaughters is a member of the society. The members of the
organization researched the history of the home and put a short version
of it on the plaque. This honor was bestowed upon the dwelling in 1996 in
a ceremony that was attended by many area dignitaries, including county
Judge Jerome Owens and Chief Oscala Clayton Clestine.
Many descendants of James Barclay call Tyler County home. They live and
work here and have a great love for their community. Roots run deep in
Tyler County.
A plaque recently placed on the old home place reads the James Barclay
Place, 1842. hand-hewn Pine. Oldest home in county. Built by area's first
Indian agent, an appointee of President Sam Houston.
Conclusion
James Barclay and his wife Virginia Ann Foster, his brothers and their
wives, and sisters and their husbands, were members of the Walter Barclay
and Elizabeth McQueen Barclay family, one of the earliest families in
east Texas, settling first at Wolf Creek near Town Bluff in the Dam B
Jasper area and the Atoscasita area that included the Menard district
that became Tyler County. His legacy lives in his many descendants, his
home that stands today, and the presence of the Alabama Indians who
reside on their own reservation less than twenty miles from his home in
Harmony settlement. Some of the cohorts of James Barclay were; 3)Harmon
Frazier, 4)Dave Lindsey, Ben Ross, 5)Charles Bullock, Josiah Wheat and
John Wheat, his brothers; Anderson, Robert, William, David, John,
Jeremiah Todd and Milton Barclay, his uncle, Milton McQueen and his
cousins, the sons of Milton McQueen, and his brothers- in- law; James
Beven, Humley Jenning, and John Deason and his mother's cousin Squire
Cruse's sons.
Other Kin and Friends of James Barclay
William Anderson Barclay
Nephew
Also raised on the farm of Judge Barclay was James' nephew, William
Anderson Barclay, the son of James Barclay's younger brother, Jeremiah
Todd b. 1825, and Elizabeth Rigsby. Elizabeth Rigsby was the niece of
James Barclay's wife Virginia Foster and the wife of James' brother
Robert Barclay's son, Walter, Martha Foster. The Foster women's mother
was a Lawson. Jeremiah Todd Barclay was shot dead on election day in
1850, leaving his widow, seventeen year old Elizabeth Rigsby Barclay and
infant son, William. When William was a child of about ten years of age,
his mother remarried, and he caught a wagon train headed to Tyler County.
Uncle James received a message that his nephew was at the regular stop,
and that if he wanted to come and get him, he could, or if he did not
want to, another man on the wagon train was willing to take him further
west and pay for his passage as a bond. James raised William on the farm
with his own children.
When W.A. Barclay was sixteen years of age he left to go look for Mr.
Hanks who had killed his father fifteen years before. Judge Barclay gave
him a mule to ride and a Bible to guide him, and WA eventually ended up
in the area of Falls county. He had a plantation of 3,500 acres and he
founded a town. The citizens honored their number one citizen by naming
the town Barclay, Texas. Descendants of this family lived in the area
that became Temple, Waco and Marlin, Texas. The story of W.A. Barclay may
be found on the Texas History Online Project, sponsored by the University
of Texas and the Texas Historical Society.
Sam Houston
The Barclay family had been acquainted with Sam Houston in Tennessee
before they came to Texas and were warm friends with him afterward. As
President of the Republic of Texas and later as US Senator and then
Govenor, Sam Houston visited James Barclay at his home.
There was a heartbreaking breach between James Barclay's friend Sam
Houston, and the people of Texas, over Texas' secession from the Union.
That breach was eventually healed before Sam Houston's death. Another
bitter disappointment had occurred earlier for Sam Houston when Houston
was in Washington on the business of Texas.
The Cherokee Indians were defeated in a battle led by their 83 year old
chief, over the issue of relocation. About one hundred Cherokee braves
were killed in the battle near Alto. The remaining Cherokee, composed
mainly of women, children, and the elderly, left Texas on foot and went
to the area north of the Red River. That action was called volunteer
relocation. M. B. Lamar, who was the second president of the Republic of
Texas, had run on a platform of extermination of hostile Indians and
relocation of friendly Indians. The Cherokee, one of the five civilized
tribes in Texas, were Sam Houston's special friends. They were referred
to by Lamar as Sam Houston's pet Indians. Sam Houston, thinking that
Texas was big enough for everyone, was accused of wanting to create an
Indian Empire in Texas.
Harmon Frazer
A Tyler County pioneer, friend, neighbor and founding father was Harmon
Frazer, b.1791 in SC. Frazer's father was William Frazer and his mother
was Dicey Dover Frazer. Frazer served informally as laison to his
neighbors in the Shiloh area, the Cherokee Indians, Sam Houston's special
Indian friends who sometimes lived on the west side of Tyler County. The
Cherokee Indians were near Billums Creek, so named after their chief,
Chief Billums. Harmon Frazier married his first wife, Martha Frazer, in
1816. They had six children at the time of the 1835 census in the
settlement of San Augustine. Those children, and the ages they were on
the census are as follows; William B., son age 18, Alexander L., son age
16, Carlin C., daughter age14, Martha A., daughter age 12, George M., son
aged 7, Tennessee J., daughter aged 5. Mrs. Frazer died of yellow fever
when they vacated their property and went into Polk County because of a
Cherokee fright at their farm. The Cherokee Indians got into Harmon
Frazier's liquor stores and acted up.
Frazer married his second wife, Mrs. Nancy Durden Pool in 1843. She was
b. 1818 AL d. 1875 TCT . She was the mother of Josh W b.1838, William b.
1840 and Mary Pool b.1842, all three born in Texas. Harmon Frazer and
Nancy Durden Pool Frazer raised a family of children that included
Harmon's children still at home, Nancy's Pool children and their children
together, Charles Westley b. 1846 d. 1860, and Charles' twin Mthelia
Melvin b. 1846 d. 1860 who married Jno Fortenberry , and Robert L Frazier
also a twin b. 1849 d. 1869 and any others born after the census of 1850.
Harmon Frazer was one of the earliest settlers in east Texas, in San
Augustine settlement and then in the Menard district and then Tyler
County. He was a leader in the Shiloh area and active in the Methodist
Church at Mt Hope. He raised two families, the first with his first wife
Martha Frazier, and the second with his second wife, Nancy Durden Pool
Frazier. He also helped Nancy Frazier raise her Pool children from her
first marriage.
Dave Lindsey
Dave Lindsey was the brother of "Doc" James Oliver Lindsey, who married
James Barclay's daughter, Sarah Anderson Barclay b. 1847 d. 1936. Dave
Linsey was a early school teacher in Tyler County. He assisted James
Barclay when he escorted the Chiefs and a delegation of men of the
Alabama Indian Tribe to pick of a location for the home Texas had in mind
for them under the Indian Relocation policy in the area that became
Oklahoma, called Indian Territory. It is hoped that more information will
be learned about Dave Lindsey.
Charles Washington Bullock
Tyler County founding father, friend and neighbor was Charles Washington
Bullock of the Wood Creek area. Bullock was born in 1824 in MS, and died
in Tyler County in 1902.
There were at least three grown men in east Texas by 1835 before
Independence. They may or may not have been kin of Charles W. Bullock b.
1824. These Bullocks are listed below, and a description of their
contributions, for the purpose of distinquishing them from Charles W.
Bullock.
Uriah Irwin Bullock, b. 1808, d. 1854, the son of Batson Bullock and
Comfort Turner Bullock, of Georgia. In 1835 he heard of the cause of
Texas Independence and helped organize the Georgia Volunteers and
advanced it his personal fortune. The battalion was organized at
Refegerio in February of 1836, and most of them were killed in the
massacre at Goliad. Bullock was not with the battalion, having been left
behind, bedridden, at Velasco. After the war was over, Bullock returned
to Georgia, financially impoverished and in debt. He married Sarah Cox
around 1840 and they had five children.
James Whitis Bullock was born in NC in 1788. He came to Texas from
Louisana. His first wife was Nancy Horton and they had eleven children.
James and Nancy are listed on the Texas Census of the San Augustine
settlement of 167 people as being aged 40 and 32 respectively. They had
these children living with them at the time of the census; Juluis, age
16, Mariah A., age15, Susan N., age 13, torn document, age 9, James
Dicksen, age seven, Sarah, age 4, Charles A., age 1 and 9 months. His
second wife was Sylvia Brunet. Colonel Bullock, a commanding officer in
the Texas War for Independence, led the first battle with Mexican Troops
at Nacogdoches, in 1832. Later, he gathered an army in east Texas and
took them to the battle of the Bexar in San Antonio in December of 1835.
It was at the same location where the battle of the Alamo took place a
few months later, in March of 1836. There were some Tyler County soldiers
under Bullock's command. One of them was James Barclay's brother,
Anderson Barclay.
Another Bullock in east Texas on the census of 1850 in San Antonio was
David Bullock, age 30, a carpenter. He was unmarried.
Charles Washington Bullock was nine years younger than James Barclay,
about the same age as James' young brother Jeremiah Todd Barclay. Bullock
is named as one of the men who accompanied Barclay to the Indian
territories when they escorted a delegation of the Alabama Indians there
to select the home that Texas had intended for them under the Indian
Relocation Act. James Barclay and his wife Virginia Foster Barclay named
one of their sons after Charles W. Bullock. That son was Charles Bullock
Barclay.
When Texas joined the Confederacy, Charles W Bullock was appointed
Captain of a regiment of east Texas men, including nineteen men of the
Alabama Indian tribe, Company G, Twenty-fourth Texas Cavalry Regiment
(Second Lancers), C.S.A. Captain Bullock had a distinguished Civil War
military career that is described elsewhere. While he was away at war,
his wife, Isabella Scott Bullock, died Isabell Scott was born in 1820 in
probably MS and died in est. 1863 in TCT. She was the mother of Bullock's
children Emily Bullock, born after the census of 1850 who married John
George, and Winfield Scott Bullock, who was born in 1847 and married Jane
Herrington in 1879. His children lived in the home of another family in
Bullock's absence, after their mother's death.
After the Civil War, Bullock returned to his home in Tyler County, and in
1865 he married James Barclay and Virginia Foster's eldest daughter, Jane
Elizabeth Barclay. They raised a family in Tyler County, Texas.
The End